Chapter 11
Lady Serenity was so shocked, she had to steady herself to keep from dropping her infant daughter. But how...? How was it possible? The silver crystal had surprised her many times in the past, and she wouldn't have put it totally past it for her daughters power to awaken unusually early, even for her to speak. But to say the name she had just said... there was only one explanation for that.
"Ma... mama?" Serenity's voice dared to stutter out. Her child turned towards her in response to the name, symbol blazing on her forehead, deep eyes locked on hers. Only now instead of their usual purple tone, her eyes were blue.
"Small Lady," she said again. "I'm afraid I only have a short time to talk to you. Pluto's power will not hold long."
"So it is you!" Lady Serenity gasped out. "But Mama, how...?"
"I am channeling my voice through Lilith. Because she is so young, her mind is open and she allowed my power into her. But even now, I may only have a few moments, so listen carefully. The young senshi are in danger."
Lady Serenity gasped. "How?" she asked.
"There is a new enemy we did not foresee. It is not Chaos. She was destroyed. But despite this, there is always a chance for darkness to born from the Galaxy Cauldron. It is the way things are. You must go and protect those children, Small Lady. You're the only one who can do it."
"What about the Asteroid Senshi?" she asked.
"The Asteroid Senshi have been captured. Only one remains, and she will in moments be under attack. You must confront the darkness with your power of light."
Lady Serenity shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm tired of fighting, Mama. I lost everything the last time I battled. I can't fight darkness anymore."
A look of anger passed over Cosmos' face. "Then you let me and my comrades die in vain," she said. And with that, she was gone.
* * * * *
Maigo sat alone in his chambers, staring at the intricate patterns on the stone walls via a flickering candle. He was not looking for anything specific. In fact, his mind was far away from the place where he sat.
"Maigo, I'm coming in!" a voice announced. Maigo allowed himself a slight grimace before Hacate opened the door and entered the room. A bit more light flooded in as the hinges creaked the door open.
"What's with you?" Hacate asked sharply, helping herself to a seat next to him. So it seemed she had been healed from the last battle. It made sense. Their master had healed his wounds as well. But he sensed something else about her, something stronger. Could it be a new power granted to her? Not caring to know, the dark young man turned his face away from his sharp-tongued comrade.
"Why should you care?" he muttered. "Shouldn't you be off kissing Lord Oni's feet or something?"
Hacate laughed, her shrieking tone irritated Maigo to no end, but he did not express it. "I don't have to do anything," she declared. "Lord Oni has promised to make me his queen once we take over Crystal Palace. I'll be ruler over that brat Lady Serenity."
Maigo glanced skeptically up at her. "How can you be so sure Lord Oni will fulfill his promise?" he asked.
At that suggestion, Hacate's face fell deadly serious. She stared hard at Maigo with cold stone eyes. "Lord Oni would never betray me," she said. "He loves me."
Maigo scoffed as he stood up. "Lord Oni loves nothing but himself. Even I knew that when I joined him. But there was something I needed from him, and still do. That's the only reason I fight despite knowing the intentions of his black heart." With that, he turned his back Hacate, who searched her love-struck mind desperately for a way to defend against the truths put before her.
"And what are his intentions?" she asked sarcastically. Maigo still did not turn around to answer her.
"To destroy everything," he said. "And I fear that may include us as well." With that, he walked out of the room. There was no point in waiting for a desperate excuse or reply from Hacate. Her love was far too blind to accept the truth. She would do whatever Lord Oni told her until her dying breath. Somewhere in his heart, Maigo wished he could save her from her foolishness, but right now he wondered if there was a chance to save himself. The energy building up from the Asteroid Senshi was still fairly low. They couldn't do much now without arousing suspicion. But still... something was bothering him. Something he was determined to settle before he took one step further in this plan.
The corridor leading the way to Lord Oni's chamber was far darker and more foreboding than any other passageway in the castle. Really, when Maigo thought about it, it made his room look like a summer picnic. As he walked along, soon the flames from the torches that lines the wall began to flicker low, and then they vanished. It was now pitch black, but somehow Maigo's feet still knew were to step, as if some force was calling him towards itself.
Maigo stopped suddenly. He couldn't let himself be taken over. He had to be in his right mind when he confronted Lord Oni. As his feet held firm to their place, a dark and low-sounding laughter could be heard in front of him.
"Nice work," his master's voice said. "You are far less easy to control than Hacate."
Maigo lowered his head and smiled slyly. "So you admit she is under your control then?" he asked. Lord Oni laughed again.
"You ask like it's a surprise," he said. "Of course, there was some passion for me when I first came to her. I had to work with it and intensify it with my power to get her to be as loyal as she is now."
"And what about me?" Maigo asked. "How am I bound to you?"
"Why, only by your desire to know the answers to your questions," he said. "Though certainly if you have no more desire to know where you came from, by all means, leave." There was a shuffling of armor and Maigo could hear that his master was leaning in closer to him. "Of course, you will die along with every other living thing that is not on my side at the uprising," he whispered.
Maigo's blood ran cold at the sound of his master's voice, but he did not show it.
"When we first joined you, you said you wanted to rule the millennium," he said. "Now you want to destroy it. Which is it?"
The voice laughed. "All in good time, my loyal servant," he said. "All in good time. Now leave. I must rest before this afternoon. Hacate is already on her way to capture the last of the Asteroid senshi. You should go with her."
"You granted her a new power, didn't you?" Maigo asked, still not moving. "Tell me, what is it?"
He was being bold and he knew it, but Master Oni's patience seemed to be stronger than usual this morning.
"Why don't you go and see for yourself?" he asked. With that, the first beam of light filled the room as a portal opened up in the wall beside Maigo. Now his sly smile was plain to see as he walked up to the exit. He had placed one foot inside, before he heard his master's voice behind him,
"Oh, and Maigo?"
"Yes sir?"
"Come into my chambers without permission again and I will tear your flesh and feed it to the insects, understand?"
"Of course, master."